Camera device, liquid lens, and image pickup method

Abstract

A camera device is provided which has a compound eye structure only by a liquid lens unit and a control unit without requiring a plurality of lenses to be mounted in advance and is capable of taking a three-dimensional stereoscopic video image. In addition, a compact and lightweight three-dimensional stereoscopic camera is provided which can be switched to take a two-dimensional planar image or to take a three-dimensional stereoscopic image only by an electronic control with no need for a movable mechanism and can reduce the power consumption and improve the reliability. A camera device comprises a liquid lens (182) switchable to a single eye lens and a compound eye lens; and a switching unit for switching the liquid lens (182) to the single eye lens to take a planar image and switching the liquid lens (182) to the compound eye lens to take a stereoscopic image.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.